General Electric Theater is an American anthology series hosted by Ronald Reagan that was broadcast on CBS radio and television.  The series was sponsored by General Electric’s Department of Public Relations.

The television version of the program, produced by MCA-TV / Revue, was broadcast every Sunday evening at 9:00pm, EST, beginning February 1st, 1953, and ending May 27th, 1962.  Each of the estimated 209 television episodes was an adaptation of a novel, short story, play, film, or magazine fiction.  An exception was the 1954 episode Music for Christmas, which featured choral director Fred Waring and his group The Pennsylvanians performing Christmas music.

On September 26th, 1954, Ronald Reagan debuted as the only host of the program.  GE added a host to provide continuity in the anthology format.  After four months, the show reached the Top Ten in the Nielsen ratings.

The show made the already well-known Reagan, who had appeared in many films as a “second lead” throughout his career, wealthy, due to his part ownership of the show.  After eight years as host, Reagan estimated he had visited 135 GE research and manufacturing facilities, and met over a quarter-million people.  During that time he would also speak at other forums such as Rotary clubs and Moose lodges, presenting views on economic progress that in form and content were often similar to what he said in introductions, segues and closing comments on the show as a spokesman for GE.  Reagan, who would later be known as “The Great Communicator” because of his oratorical prowess, often credited these engagements as helping him develop his public speaking abilities.

Reagan was fired by General Electric in 1962 in response to his reference to the TVA as one of the problems of “big government.”  Reagan would subsequently reiterate his points in his famous 1964 televised speech for Republican presidential nominee Barry M. Goldwater of Arizona entitled, “A Time for Choosing.”

The publicity Reagan gained in part from this speech paved the way for his election as governor of California in 1966, when he unseated the two-term Democrat Edmund G. “Pat” Brown, Sr.

Michael Reagan, adopted son of Ronald Reagan and Jane Wyman, contends that Attorney General of the United States Robert F. Kennedy pressured GE to cancel The General Electric Theater or at least to fire Reagan as the host if the program were to continue.  The series was not dropped because of low ratings but political intervention, Michael Reagan still maintains.  Michael Reagan said that Robert Kennedy told GE officials that the company would receive no federal contracts so long as Reagan was host of their showcase television series.   According to Michael Reagan, Kennedy’s directive is another example of the “law of unintended consequences.”  

In fact, the primary reason Reagan was fired by General Electric for his comments regarding the TVA was that the TVA was one of General Electric’s biggest customers.  General Electric was and remains the largest supplier of equipment to the TVA and most other electricity producers in the United States.

Don Herbert, a television personality well known as the host of Watch Mr. Wizard, appeared as the “General Electric Progress Reporter,” adding a scientific touch to the institutional advertising pitch.  The show was produced by Revue Studios, whose successor-in-interest, NBC Universal Television, is co-owned by GE.

Following General Electric Theater’s cancellation in 1962, the series was replaced in the same time slot by the short-lived GE-sponsored GE True, hosted by Jack Webb.